A rescued long-tailed macaque that was rehabilitated has been released back to the wild.

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) found the injured animal with a shattered pelvis at Macritchie reservoir in August. It was operated on and rehabilitated over six weeks before being released back into the forested area around the reservoir.

This is the first macaque to be attended to by Acres' newly formed macaque response team. Set up last month, the team aims to educate residents living close to the monkeys' forest habitats on how to prevent the monkeys from entering their homes by, for example, storing food away from sight. The team will also has plans to begin a 'behavioural modification' program to keep them away from human territories.

Acres executive director Louis Ng said the team's effort would hopefully show that there are alternative ways to manage the monkey population here other than culling. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) culled about 360 macaques in the first half of this year, about a fifth of their estimated population of 1,800. Complaints to the AVA about monkey nuisance have been growing from 730 in 2011 to 1,460 in the first eight months of this year.